MightyRecruiterSmart companies invest a lot of money into employee training, and for good reason. While it’s important to get your new hires up to speed with polices and culture, it’s equally important that you teach them how to represent your organization. Simply put, every staff member should know how to market. In fact, one of the best marketing tactics for success is to train non-marketing staff members on these actual tactics. Your key audience should be employees who work with clients, customers or even the general public. Here are seven pillars to incorporate into your staff training program.
1. Establishing Value
Hopefully your employees already have a sense of pride in what they do and whom they work for. Even still, remind them of what makes your company unique. Do this by explaining exactly how your product or service adds value to a specific demographic or to society as a whole. Then, teach them how to actually convey this message in a positive and effective way. Collective learning is an excellent way of teaching these marketing tactics for success. Encourage group involvement and practice through role-playing.
2. Defining Your Client
Your employees know the managers they work for, but they may not know who is actually benefiting from the work in the end. Provide specific examples of your ideal client and why they choose to do business with your company. Each staff member should understand the exact type of individual or organization that benefits the most from your product or service.
3. Targeting Your Client
Try to highlight comparisons between your existing clients by pinpointing common needs. Then, ask your group to suggest areas that might be good targets for securing future business. Get creative with this one. Not all needs are direct, and you need to show your group how to interpret indirect language. Consider the strategy for a company that sells transportation management software. An outside fleet manager might complain about delivery time, local construction or too many trucks in service rather than about the need for a new system. Every product is meant to provide some sort of solution. You should be teaching your staff how to identify the problem.
4. Serving Your Client
Once you’ve identified your profile, show your staff exactly how your company interacts with clients. One of the most effective ways to convey these marketing tactics for success is by giving your back-end workers a chance to face the end user. Answering a customer call, riding along for a delivery or reading an online review are all great ways to learn how your clients communicate. You might also consider a slideshow of the latest posts from your company Facebook page. This is an easy way to show your staff what people are saying.
5. Current Strategies
Naturally, visual aids are highly effective when teaching basic marketing tactics for success. Bring in physical products, mock-ups and prototypes. Likewise, play clips from video ads that are currently airing to your audience. Above all, make sure your employees stay on top of current promotions. Every employee should be able to convey the company to outsiders in a positive, relevant and authentic way.
6. Internal Branding
First, get your employees in the habit of saying ïwe.ï With this mindset, they’ll be more excited about internal branding. The idea is simple: practice what you preach. Your marketing department is probably very diligent about keeping promotional material consistent with your corporate colors, logo, font and style. Try to get your staff members to do the same internally through emails, attire or even verbal communication. Not only does this improve morale, but also it keeps everyone on the same page. Plus, you’d be surprised at how much the average consumer cares about your internal atmosphere.
7. The Common Goal
It’s one thing to teach these marketing tactics for success. You also need to explain how marketing is directly related to other departments and individual jobs. Employees will get on board if they know they are contributing, and the best way to convey that idea is by being transparent. People feel empowered when they’re given information. Don’t be afraid to share the strategic and financial metrics your company uses to gauge performance. Be sure to explain those numbers and how they correlate with the activities or budgets of other departments. Give your staff a role in marketing by showing them the value of your organization. Once they’re on board, your clients will follow. These are the best marketing tactics for success.